


Queen Songs and Shakespeare Bring the Family Together

by Irregular_Psychic



Series: Warlock's Family's South Downs Adventures [3]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Asexual Relationship, Aziraphale and Crowley are Warlock Dowling's Parents, Chubby Aziraphale (Good Omens), Fluff, Gen, If u don't count the, Implied Transphobia, M/M, Nonbinary Warlock Dowling, ace ineffable husbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23989789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irregular_Psychic/pseuds/Irregular_Psychic
Summary: One of their neighbors calls one weekend asking if it would be fine if their daughter came over for a little chat. Given that they know the neighbor, with her being Warlock's English teacher, they kindly accept— or well, Aziraphale does because he's the one who answered the phone.The teen that does arrive there gets way more than a little chat.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Warlock Dowling, Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Crowley & Warlock Dowling
Series: Warlock's Family's South Downs Adventures [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715860
Comments: 2
Kudos: 51





	Queen Songs and Shakespeare Bring the Family Together

**Author's Note:**

> I spent way too much time on yet another self indulgent fic! I put way too many little details in it that made me overthink myself but then I just went, heck,, I'mma post it. So here we are.
> 
> It's technically a prequel to the first and second part since Crowley seemed quite familiar with Khaye in the first part, but it can be a sequel or a prequel. I wasn't thinking too hard about the timeline when making this.
> 
> Also,, tw for sorta implied transphobia from Warlock's previous parents and the original enby's parents, but the enby's parent's aren't as bad as warlocks. Just kinda uninformed.

It was one of those weekends where you planned a bunch of cool activities to do beforehand but find yourself completely unmotivated when the time finally came to perform them.

People usually react to this by moping on their bed and scrolling away at their phones for the rest of the weekend.

Khaye had a different approach. Or maybe just the same thing but with a little addition. They moped on their bed while scrolling away at their phone and also whined about being bored.

Their mama, a hot-headed 8th grade English teacher with a penchant for bad jokes, would be subjected to this. It would've been much simpler if their papa was there as they clearly preferred him to their mama. But he was abroad at the moment so unfortunately that wasn't an option.

"Maaaaa. Unsa akong buhaton run?"[1] The teen whined in their dialect as they walked over to their mom with a sullen expression on their face.

"Well, you could do some sweeping in the living room." She answered calmly in her not-so-fluent accent that still hadn't worn off despite living in England for some time now, not looking up from her phone. That answer merely gave her another whine from them. "And please speak in English next time. I do like your accent. It makes you fit in more in this place."

"But _mama_ , I've already done that! I'm too bored to do any more chores!" The teenager sighed, wondering why they even thought about asking their mother for suggestions in the first place.

"Why don't you go to Warlock's place? You remember, don't you? That one cottage where I had you give them a welcoming basket on their first week?" Their mama suggested once more, not knowing that her child had already regretted their want for suggestions from her.

"Why would I go there? I barely know those people! I don't think they'll welcome me in just because you teach their kid English!" Khaye reasoned with a huff.

"Hey, don't speak to your mom that way. I'm just gonna call one of his dads and tell them you're coming over." She ignored her teen's reaction and called the Crowley-Fell household. "And don't forget to be polite."

~~~~~

How they were managed to be persuaded into actually going there, they weren't sure what sorcery their mom cooked up this time, but they were now able to see the cottage from a distance.

They stood outside the porch for about a minute, trying to come up with an excuse when they give up and go home without interacting with any of the family members of this household without upsetting their mom.

"Dear, I think there's a person outside. Could that be Khaye?" A slightly muffled voice from behind the door could be heard.

 _Crap_ , they were seen. There wasn't a way to wiggle out of this situation anymore. Before they could decide whether to knock on the door or to ring the doorbell, it swung open and their eyes met a pair of sunglasses perched on a redheaded person's nose.

"Are you Maria's kid?" He asked sternly. Khaye's hands met each other and started fidgeting as they started sweating nervously, their brain was running at top speed and was too fast for them to completely process any sort of response.

"Don't scare the poor dear, darling." The owner of the voice that noticed their arrival earlier appeared beside the redhead. He looked to be the complete opposite of the other. He looked to be all curves and softness while Goth n Sunglasses person was all hard angles and suavity. "Do come in, dear. Don't let my husband frighten you, he really is a sweetheart when you get to know him better."

Despite all their braincells screaming to not enter the house, they did exactly that with almost no hesitation[2]. There was a spike of nervousness clinging to their back like icicles growing from their spine as they looked around the inside of the house.

"Uhm, my name is Khaye." They introduced themselves to the two men meekly. Were they men? For all Khaye knew, the two people could also be like them. But the blonde one introduced sunglasses guy as his husband, so there was space for debate on that theory.

"Yeah, your mom told us." The redhead said with too much snark to be welcoming.

"Darling, you're sleeping on the couch tonight if you keep this up! You have no reason to be unkind to our guest here." The blonde pouted as he turned to his husband. They stared at each other for a few solid seconds before the shorter of the two turned back to Khaye, almost as if they forgot the teen was there in those few seconds of stern eye contact.

"I'm Aziraphale. And this is Crowley. He/him for both of us please. At least, today that is." Khaye's heart started beating faster in the hopes that they'd ask them their pronouns as well. But should they say she/her or they/them? The two might tell their mom and they didn't want that!

"What should we call you, then?" Crowley asked with a little less sharpness around the edges of his statement.

"Huh? Uhm, huh?" They replied dumbly. They were too overwhelmed with this situation. Were they finally ready to come out to a full grown adult? Or well, two full grown adults in this case.

 _"_ _Pleasedon'ttellmymombutIgobythey_ _/them,_ _mrcrowleyandaziraphale_ _!"_ Khaye blurted out in a moment of confidence before realizing what they had just said and clamped their hands over their mouth.

"Well then, that's nice, dear. Now let me show you to the living room while I call Warlock over." Mr. Aziraphale smiled without judgement and led them to a cozy-looking sofa and urged them to sit down.

While Aziraphale hurried off into a different room down the hall, Crowley sat on the armchair beside the sofa and scrolled away at his phone. He was definitely ignoring Khaye on purpose. _Were they really that infuriating already? It hadn't even been an hour yet!_

The adrenaline from the "coming out as nonbinary to two grown adults" situation hadn't really worn off yet so Khaye's heart was still pounding. They briefly wondered if pulling out their phone and listening to a bit of music would calm them down, but they quickly dismissed the idea since it had been too late for them to bring out their phone without it being awkward.

After a minute or two of silence, for some reason Aziraphale was taking his sweet time with bringing their kid to the living room, but if they were the same age as Khaye, they'd be just as reluctant to meet someone new as they'd be.

"So, got anything you'd want me to put on the speakers?" Mr. Crowley asked out of the blue while pointing to two small black speakers on a shelf on the wall behind his armchair[3].

The black-haired teen shook their head in an alarmed manner like a deer caught in headlights.

"Well then, I hope you like Queen since that's the only thing that'll play on those blasted speakers!" [4] And with that, with a tap of his phone, the Bluetooth speakers started playing Another One Bites the Dust.

Khaye's eyebrows shot up so high that it disappeared into their too-long-to-be-considered-bangs-but-still-called-that bangs. Not only did they listen to Queen, they loved the band as well.

"Hmm, you know the song, kid?" The teen nodded slowly. "Well, it is one of their more popular ones, so it isn't really surprising." He added.

Without even going through the first verse, Mr. Aziraphale and another teen about Khaye's height finally walked into the living room. They seemed more mournful of the time to themself lost because of meddling parents than Khaye did.

This kid's hair was about the same length as Khaye's, only it wasn't pulled into a low ponytail like theirs was. He had an air of solitude and mild intimidation, which they probably got from Mr. Crowley if they spent a lot of time with them.

"Now, introduce yourself to Khaye, love." Aziraphale said softly to his child.

"Uh, hey. I'm Warlock, I use he/him but if you call me a boy then there's a small chance I'd punch you if I was in a bad mood." He introduced himself and Khaye, for the fifth time that day, almost died of shock.

"Yeah, I'm Khaye, they/them. I may not punch you if you call me anything not along the lines of nonbinary, but I'd certainly be just as cross!" They laughed nervously, and for the first time that day, they weren't scared or nervous—okay, maybe still a little bit nervous since they did just laugh nervously—, they were confident!

Warlock's eyes widened at their words. Then his mouth curled into a smile. "Cool! I didn't know Mrs. Silva's kid was an enby too!" He hurried towards the other teen with an amazed look on his face.

"Er, well, she doesn't actually, um, _know_ about it." They tried to explain. "I guess she's been suspecting it quite a bit now since I refuse to wear any dress she offers me. Not that there's wrong with dresses! I just don't like how they frame me, and now my parents think I want to be a boy."

What had come over them to expose such secrets to complete strangers? Was it the friendliness of Mr. Aziraphale that enabled them to feel realxed enough to spill out secrets they thought they'd take to their grave? Or was it Mr. Crowley's mysterious demeanor that made them feel like they'd be dumped into said grave earlier than they were meant to if they didn't throw away their life story at him?

"Well, my parents, the biological ones, not the ones that matter to me, used to think I had become a bundle of sticks when I had my skirt phase." Warlock shrugged casually as if he didn't just give away a touchy memory to a complete stranger like said stranger just did mere seconds ago.

"Bundle...of sticks..? Oh." The other teen's face crumpled in horror at the realization.

"Er, yeah, it's a code word I made up so I never had to say it. I admit, I was worried you wouldn't get it, even if your mom _is_ an English teacher." Warlock scratched the back of his neck as he further explained.

"Well, I _am_ more well read than she is. One time she even said that she doesn't "do books"." Khaye comically used their fingers to emphasize the two words. There was a blooming feeling in their chest that replaced the anxiety and dread that resided there mere minutes ago. They felt right at home.

"Are you sure you didn't just quote that from, Dad? Because I'm pretty sure I've heard him say that more times than I can count." He replied as he gave his Dad a smirk before he leaned closer to the Filipino teen and whispered. "He's lying, he's read loads of books just to impress Papa before they were together."

"I can hear you!" Crowley jumped to his feet at the mention of his attempts to make Aziraphale like him when the angel was still distrustful with him. He also slightly flushed with embarrassment, evident of the slightly reddish color his ears had taken, when realizing that his precious hellspawn was giving away important information[5] to complete strangers. "I can ground you, you know! Don't try me, hellspawn!" He feigned fury.

 _Hellspawn? What kind of nickname for their kid was that?_ Khaye raised an eyebrow at the odd term.

"Pssh, he never goes through with it. He cools off after like, an hour and never mentions it again." Warlock continued to whisper about his Dad to Khaye. Khaye let out a small laugh, Mr. Crowley sounded just like their mom. "Sounds like something my mama would do." They said with a growing smile.

Before Crowley could add any more empty threats, Aziraphale came back—even though nobody remembered him ever leaving the room— from the kitchen with a tray of tea, coffee and cookies.

"Now why don't you all have a seat, I take it that all this standing up has made you all thirsty?" He beamed as he placed the tray on the coffee table and poured everyone but Crowley a cup of tea before sitting primly on the armchair opposite to Crowley's.

Warlock and Khaye decided to sit on the same sofa, albeit on the farthest opposite sides of each other.

"Well, um, thank you for the tea and cookies, Mr. Aziraphale." Khaye thanked the blonde who smiled kindly once more at them.

"Oh, please drop the formalities, dear. I have no problem with being called my first name only! But well, now that I think about it, it _is_ a bit long to say--" His rambling was cut short by Khaye waving their hands around and reassuring him that it would be absolutely fine for them to call him by his long—they may admit, it was quite long— first name. "Well then, if it isn't any trouble." Aziraphale replied before put a horrifyingly large amount, in the teen's opinion, of sugar cubes into his tea.

After keeping up with a bit of small talk with everyone, they learned a few things about the family. Crowley liked raising plants, they found out from an anecdote from his husband who also added how he dreaded the redhead's method of screaming at them to ensure their growth. Warlock disliked the way Aziraphale would add healthy vegetables into brownies that Crowley would bake because he knew it was his favorite dessert. Aziraphale took part in a weekly book club the neighborhood liked to hold every Friday and he'd occasionally bring his husband and/or child to them despite their lack of enthusiasm and great reluctance.

And one more memorable thing was that apparently, when Warlock was a kid, Aziraphale was the gardener at his house and Crowley was the nanny. They didn't know why the lot told them this, especially on a first meeting, but they didn't question it either. They just thought it was nice that everyone felt comfortable enough to talk idly about things like that to them, and they told the family their fair share of anecdotes that they felt weren't too personal to share.

They told them about how they drew and wrote a lot in their spare time— though they insisted that they weren't that good at any of the activities to discourage the prying parents from wanting to see any of their works— and Warlock also commented that he was also quite fond of digitally drawing[6]. They also recounted an incident where they gasped out loud when they found their favorite Shakespeare play[7] in one of the only local bookstores in their small island back when they still lived in the Philippines[8].

Aziraphale followed that short story by droning on about some other Shakespeare plays and what had been circling around the playwright's mind when he wrote them. It almost sounded like he knew Shakespeare since the way he spoke about the man implied that he thought of the dead guy as an old friend. Crowley also added details here and there in between his husband's rambling which also seemed to feel like he had also witnessed those things firsthand as well.

Khaye didn't know what to think of it. Maybe Aziraphale was just really well read on these sorts of stuff? And Warlock did mention that Crowley used to read books just to impress the blonde back in the day. It wouldn't be so far fetched to believe that he also somehow got caught in the same books that might've talked about Shakespeare's thoughts when writing his plays.

But there was a weird gut feeling in Khaye that said, _what if they're time travelers? Or maybe they're vampires?_

 _Truly ridiculous ideas,_ Khaye thought to themself. But it was fun to think about it for a while before setting off on another ramble, this time about Queen. Instead of Aziraphale, Crowley and Warlock were the major contributors to the conversation now, Warlock seemed to speak of the band in an admiring sort of light. Which wasn't at all odd, it was almost the same as Khaye's enthusiasm for the band.

But the redhead talked as if he was one of the backstage crew to the band's shenanigans. It wasn't too out of the question when compared to the Shakespeare thing before. Because given the looks of it, both parents seemed to be old enough to be alive back then. The teen thought about doing the math to check, but decided otherwise as mathematics really wasn't their strong suit no matter how simple subtraction was.

~~~~~

Before they knew it, it was 6:24 pm. Time flew by so fast that until Khaye looked out the window— which given by their short attention span should've been sooner— and realized that in fact, no, _time didn't freeze for a day_ _and that means you'll have to leave this warm and welcoming family now._

As they finished washing the dishes, despite Aziraphale's tries at dissuading them with reasons like the fact that they were a guest at the household, they bid the family goodbye and walked out the door.

~~~~~

"Gabulung ka ni Kay Kay? Niadto man gud siya sa balay sa studyante nako."[9] Mrs. Silva talked to the phone without looking as she was currently busy finishing paperwork that was supposed to be passed next Tuesday. "Oo, basin nalimot siya's oras. Ako sa siya tawagon."[10]

Before she could scroll down her contacts, someone knocked on the front door. She could recognize that rhythmic knock from anywhere if she put her mind to it, unfortunately, she usually didn't. She was too busy to put her mind to anything but her school work. Fortunately, she had a hunch that it was her daughter.

That hunch was proven to be right when she saw her daughter on the other side with a cheeky smile.

"Go in. I made some curry for you. I already ate so don't wait for me. I'm still finishing my reports." She said as she walked back to her computer when Khaye entered.

"Okay, ma." Was the only reply before the teen scampered off to the dinner table to eat.

~~~~

After washing the dishes—as you can see, it was a very familiar situation, but Khaye was used to it given that their mom was the one who usually cooked— they sat down on the flower-patterned sofa in their living room.

"So, how was your day? Did you like going to Warlock's?" Their mom chimed from their room.

Khaye had all the chances to give out a mechanical answer like "it was alright" or "maybe".

In the end, they broke out into a large grin despite knowing their mom wouldn't be able to see them.

"Yeah, ma. I did. And I think I'll want to come back soon."

~~~~~~  
[1] "Maaaa. What am I going to do today?"

[2] Not before dusting their shoes on the welcoming mat in front of the door. That was the one thing the braincells managed to get through to the teen.

[3] Crowley always thought that music was a great icebreaker for any awkward situation. This one was no different. And he'd like to think that the music taste of a person would give him enough of a first impression to tell if he'd like them enough early on.

[4] That was not the truth as it would only play Queen if Crowley were to plug in music to it. It didn't matter if it was Warlock's favorite anime opening or Aziraphale's most enjoyed classical cover of a Chopin song, if Crowley turned it on, Queen would play. It was like a curse from the Bentley that spread to any other electronic device that played music. Which is often why he'd let Warlock turn on the speaker, the car's music player, or his headphones. He tried it with Aziraphale before they adopted Warlock, but he wasn't nearly as quick since he didn't enjoy tinkering with "new technology" as he called it.

[5] Warlock didn't think so. He just thought it was a funny occurrence when he heard the anecdotes from his Papa. _Clearly, he was wrong,_ Crowley thought to himself with a large frown that he would never admit was closer to a cute pout.

[6] They exchanged Tumblr usernames right before Khaye left so they could possibly have an art collab soon. Or maybe just to have someone to talk to that wasn't a classmate at school.

[7] It was Twelfth Night. And two of their aunts had been with them at that time. One of them was in highschool but she was also a bit older than Khaye, the older of the two aunts was the one that promised the young ones some books so that's how they ended up in the bookstore in the first place. The older aunt also loudly shushed Khaye as they had drawn the attention of the other people in the bookshop as well. It was an embarrassing day for them, but at least they got the play!

[8] Khaye's family had moved to England because their mama found a better job there— and maybe because she was getting sick of her jealous co-teachers back at the small town they used to live in— just a year before the Crowley-Fell family moved into the South Downs. Thankfully, they had no problem fitting in at first— although looking for a highschool in the middle of the school year that'd accept them was a bit more difficult— since being the kid of an English teacher meant that she would teach you words like rendezvous when you were 9 just for the sake of it and their accent wasn't that bad, a bit loud and deeper than it should've been, but that could be just because of their voice.

[9] "Oh, you're looking for Khaye? I sent her over to a student's house because she said she was bored."

[10] "Yeah. Maybe she forgot the time. Let me give her a call."


End file.
